In today's news, with Paz and Trevor:
A third-generation temple artist, the world's first alphabet, and the eight-billionth person in the world!
Stay tuned and we'll tell you more about these stories, coming up next!
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80 歲的寺廟藝術家保持傳統
80-year old Temple artist keeps tradition alive
In Taiwan, you may see temples (寺廟) everywhere you go.
There are more than 15,000 official temples in the country!
They're an important part of Taiwan's history and culture.
Most temples are decorated with intricate sculptures, beautiful carvings, and murals of religious art.
大多數寺廟都裝飾著精致的雕塑、精美的雕刻和宗教藝術壁畫。
In Tainan, there is a temple artist who strives to preserve (努力保存) traditional religious art.
80-year-old Pan Yueh-Hsing says he will keep painting for as long as he can do it.
Last month, he won the Tainan Cultural Award for his effort to keep traditional temple art alive.
That's just one of many awards he's won for his craft (工藝).
He learned how to paint temple beams and pillars (樑柱) from his father.
And his father learned it from his father.
That makes Pan the third-generation (第三代) temple artist in his family.
He says his favorite temple is the Tientan Temple (天壇天公廟), known as Taiwan's first temple.
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在古代梳子上發現第一個字母文字
First Alphabetic Writing Found on Ancient Comb
A-B-C-D-E-F-G…
Do you know the rest of that song?
It's called the 'ABC song' or 'alphabet song'.
An alphabet is a set of symbols used to represent the sounds of a language.
字母表是一組用於表示語言聲音的符號。
That's why when we start learning English, we start by learning that 'A' sounds like "a" as in "apple" or "a" as in cake.
Scientists in Israel (以色列) have discovered the earliest writing ever found that uses an alphabet.
The writing was carved (雕刻) on the side of a 3,700-year-old comb made of ivory (象牙).
It was found in a city that was important to an ancient people known as the Canaanites (古代迦南人).
And the writing was in the Canaanite alphabet.
They invented the world's first alphabet.
We still use some of the symbols (符號) in the English alphabet today.
Scientists say it wasn't easy to figure out (弄清楚) what the writing said because the comb was so small.
It said, "may this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard."
它寫道："願這根獠牙根除頭髮和鬍鬚上的蝨子。"
Lice (蝨子) are a common problem for humans, even today.
Isn't it interesting?
Maybe we're not so different from people who lived thousands of years ago!
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世界上第八十億人
Eight Billionth Person in the World
A special baby was born this week.
He or she might be the eight-billionth person (第八十億人) in the world!
On November 15th, the world's population (人口) reached a new record.
The United Nations has predicted (預料) that the Earth now has eight billion inhabitants (居民).
It's impossible to know exactly where this special baby was born.
But experts say they are most likely (最有可能) from the global south.
The UN says the global population is growing at its slowest rate (最慢的速度) since 1950.
And the COVID-19 pandemic has also affected population growth.
COVID-19 也影響了人口增長。
They think the world's population could reach 8.5 billion in 2030.
More than half of the projected increase (預計增加) in the global population will be concentrated (集中) in eight countries:
The Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the United Republic of Tanzania.
剛果民主共和國、埃及、埃塞俄比亞、印度、尼日利亞、巴基斯坦、菲律賓和坦桑尼亞聯合共和國。
And India is expected to surpass China as the world's most populous country.
印度很可能會超過中國成為世界上人口最多的國家。
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So, in today's News Bites:
Temples are an important part of Taiwan's history and culture.
80-year-old Pan Yueh-Hsing is a third-generation temple artist.
He says he will keep painting for as long as he can do it.
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Scientists in Israel have discovered the earliest writing ever found that uses an alphabet.
The writing was carved on the side of a 3,700-year-old comb made of ivory.
It said, "may this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard."
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And,
The United Nations has predicted that the Earth now has eight billion inhabitants.
Experts say they are most likely from the global south.
They think the world's population could reach 8.5 billion in 2030.
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And that's all for today's episode of News Bites!